JPS63174128A - Program generating device by graphic - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To generate a program by using a graphic and to enable the maintenance of the program to be performed on the graphic, by providing a graphical structure storage means, a graphic data generating means, a graphic data storage means, and a program conversion means. CONSTITUTION:The graphic data generating means 2 performs the interactive processing of graphic generation according to graphical structure taken out from the graphical structure storage means 1, and edits a graphic data, and outputs it to the program conversion means 5 via the graphic data storage means 3. The means 5 takes out and discriminates the graphic data inputted from the means 3, and correspondingly, the means converts the graphic data to a program element according to a conversion rule which converts the graphic data taken out from a conversion rule storage means 4 to the program element. In other words, a conversion rule stipulation unit in which a graphic discrimination name in the conversion rule is relative stipulation is taken out, and the content of data in the unit of graphic data stipulation unit is converted and edited to the program element according to the content. In such a way, it is possible to generate the program by using the graphic, and to perform the maintenance of a generated program on the graphic.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a program creation device for a software development system, and particularly to a device for creating a program to be implemented using a diagram.

[Conventional technology]

Traditionally, programs have been created by inputting and editing character strings according to the syntax rules of the programming language.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

Therefore, it has the disadvantage that programs cannot be created unless one is familiar with the detailed syntax rules of the programming language, and the programs created can only be viewed as strings, making them difficult to understand.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a hitherto unknown program creation device for creating a desired program using diagrams.

[Means for solving problems]

The graphical program creation device of the present invention includes a graphical structure storage means that stores a diagrammatic structure, a diagrammatic data creation means that creates diagrammatic data according to the diagrammatic structure from the diagrammatic structure storage means, and a diagrammatic data created by the graphical data creation means. a graphical data storage means for storing graphical data that has been converted into a program; a conversion rule storing means for storing rules for converting the graphical data into a program; It is comprised of a program conversion means for converting data into a program, and a program storage means for storing the program converted by the program conversion means.

[Effect]

When creating a program using the graphical program creation device of the present invention, first, graphical data is created based on the graphical structure stored in the graphical structure storage means using the graphical data creating means, and the graphical data is The graphical data is stored in the graphical data storage means using the storage means. Next, the graphical data stored in the graphical data storage means is stored in the graphical data storage means based on the conversion rules stored in the conversion rule storage means using the program conversion means. The program is converted into a program, and the program is stored using a program storage means.

By storing the rules for converting diagram data into a program that conforms to the syntax rules of the programming language as conversion rules in the conversion rule storage means, even people who are not familiar with the syntax rules of the programming language can use the diagrams. It is possible to create programs using the following methods, and maintenance of the created programs can be done graphically.

〔Example〕

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

This embodiment relates to a program creation device that graphically creates a program that defines the structure of a database. In this device, the structure of the database is expressed using a diagram representing item definitions (hereinafter referred to as item definition diagram) and a diagram representing relationship definitions between items (hereinafter referred to as relationship definition diagram). The 0-item definition diagram consists of a rectangle and an item name written inside the rectangle. The relationship definition diagram is composed of a diamond, a Kanji name written inside the diamond, and two lines connecting the diamond and a rectangle corresponding to two item names to be related.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of this embodiment. In the figure, the diagrammatic program creation device includes a diagrammatic structure storage means 1 that stores the diagram structure, and a diagrammatic structure that identifies a command input along an input line and retrieves it from the diagrammatic structure storage means 1 in response to the command. a diagram data creation means 2 that edits the diagram data by performing interactive processing for diagram creation according to the diagram; a diagram data storage means 3 that stores the diagram data; and a conversion that converts the diagram data into program elements according to the syntax rules of the programming language. Conversion rule storage means 4 that stores rules, and graphical data storage means 4 that retrieves and identifies graphical data from the graphical data storage means 3 and correspondingly stores the transformation rule storage means 4.
It has a program conversion means 5 for converting graphical data into program elements and editing the program according to conversion rules extracted from the program, and a program storage means 6 for storing the above-mentioned program.

Next, the program creation device according to the above diagram will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of the graphical structure stored in the graphical structure storage means 1 on the memory. FIG. 3(a) is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of surface elements constituting the diagram. The surface elements of the item definition diagram include rectangles and item names, and the surface elements of the relationship definition diagram include diamonds, relationship names, and lines, each of which corresponds to a diagram element definition unit. A diagram element definition unit consists of a diagram element name and a plane element attribute for uniquely identifying a plane element. Shape information of the surface element is described in the surface element attribute of each surface element of rectangle, diamond, and line. Restriction rules regarding the value of the item name and the value of the relationship name input by the graphical data creation means are described in the surface element attribute of each surface element of the item name and relationship name, respectively.

FIG. 4B is an explanatory diagram showing the diagrammatic structure. The item definition diagram and the relationship definition diagram each correspond to a diagram structure definition unit. A diagram structure definition unit is composed of a diagram identification name and a diagram attribute for intentionally identifying a diagram. Let the diagram identifiers of the item definition diagram and the relationship definition diagram be ``Item Definition Pa'' and ``Relation Definition'', respectively. The diagram attributes of each diagram, “Item Definition” and “Relationship Definition”, describe the contents of the interaction process for creating a diagram using the surface elements of the same figure (a>.The contents of the dialogue process include: There is an operation for displaying surface elements, and an operation for inputting values for item names or related ministries.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the graphical data creation means 2 which creates graphical data according to the graphical structure. When a diagram creation command is input (11), the diagram creation command is identified (12), and if the diagram creation command is an "end" command, the process of the diagram data creation means is terminated. If the diagram creation command is a "Relation Definition" command, the diagram structure definition unit whose diagram identifier is "Item Definition" is retrieved (13). If the diagram creation command is a "Relation Definition" command, the diagram identifier is 'Relation Definition'. Extract the diagram structure definition unit (14), perform interactive processing according to the diagram attribute of the diagram structure definition unit extracted in 13.140
Identify the interaction processing content described in the diagram attribute 15
), if the interaction processing content is "surface element display operation", the surface element is displayed (16). If the dialog processing content is "value input operation" of the item name or related ministries, an input prompting message will be output. Please check according to the restriction rule described in the surface element attribute corresponding to the surface element.
9) If there is an error in the input value, output an error message. 20) Return to step 17. If there is no error in one check, and after the display of the 16 surface elements is finished, it is checked whether all the interactive processing contents described in the diagram attributes have been executed (21). If all the contents of the dialog processing have not been executed, the process returns to step 15. If all the dialog processing contents have been executed, the diagram data is edited based on the input item name value or the value of the relevant ministry (22), and the process returns to step 11.

The graphical data created using the graphical data creating means 2 is stored in the graphical data storage means 3. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of the graphical data stored in the graphical data storage means 3 on the memory. Each time a diagram creation command is executed once using the diagram data creation means 2, one diagram data definition unit is created. A graphical data definition unit is composed of a graphical identification name for uniquely identifying graphical data and data content. When an item definition diagram is created using the diagram data creation means 2, the value of the item name is stored in the data content of the diagram data definition unit whose diagram identification name is "Item Definition."The value of the item name is stored in the diagram data creation means 2. When a relationship definition diagram is created using , the value of the relevant ministry is stored in the data content of the diagram data definition unit whose diagram identifier is ``Relationship Definition Pa''.

Rules for converting graphical data into programs are stored in the conversion rule storage means 4. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of the conversion rules stored in the conversion rule storage means 4 on the memory. Rules for converting item definition diagrams and relationship definition diagrams into programs each correspond to a conversion rule definition unit.

A conversion rule definition unit is composed of a diagram identification name for uniquely identifying a diagram and conversion rule contents. The diagram identifier is”
The conversion rule content of the conversion rule definition unit, which is an "item definition," describes rules that constitute the elements of a program that defines an item using the value of an item name.

The conversion rule content of the conversion rule definition unit whose diagram identifier is "Relationship Definition" describes rules constituting elements of a program that defines relationships using values from related ministries.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the program conversion means 5 for converting graphical data into a program according to conversion rules. Check the presence or absence of diagram data stored in the diagram data storage means 31), and if there is diagram data, retrieve the diagram data for each diagram data definition unit 32), identify it (33), and retrieve it. If the diagram identifier of the diagram data is °“item definition”, extract the conversion rule definition unit whose diagram identifier is “item definition” from among the conversion rules stored in the conversion rule storage means (34) .If the diagram identifier of the retrieved diagram data is "Relation Definition", extract the conversion rule definition unit whose diagram identifier is "Relation Definition" from among the conversion rules stored by the conversion rule storage means. (35), 34 or 35
According to the conversion rule contents of the conversion rule definition unit taken out in step 32, the data contents of the graphical data definition unit taken out in step 32 are converted into program elements (36). When the creation of the program element is completed, the process returns to step 31. If there is no graphical data in the process of 31, the program is edited by combining the program elements created in 36 (37), and the process of the program conversion means 5 is ended.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, by using the program creation device of the present invention, even people who are not familiar with the syntax rules of programming languages can create programs using diagrams, and can check the created programs on diagrams. This has the effect of making maintenance easier and improving software quality and productivity.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of a diagrammatic structure stored in a diagrammatic structure storage means on memory, and FIG. 3 is a processing of a diagrammatic data creation means. A flowchart showing the procedure, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the structure of the graphical data stored in the graphical data storage means on the memory, and FIG. 5 shows the structure of the transformation rules stored in the transformation rule storage means on the memory. The explanatory diagram, FIG. 6, is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the program conversion means. In the figure, 1 is a graphical structure storage means, 2 is a graphical data creation means, 3 is a graphical data storage means, 4 is a conversion rule storage means, 5 is a program conversion means, and 6 is a program storage means. 2nd section (θ)

Claims (1)

[Claims] a diagrammatic structure storage means that stores a diagrammatic structure; a diagrammatic data creation means that creates diagrammatic data according to the diagrammatic structure from the diagrammatic structure storage means; and a diagrammatic data storage that stores the diagrammatic data created by the diagrammatic data creation means. means, conversion rule storage means for storing rules for converting the graphical data into a program, and program conversion means for converting the graphical data from the graphical data storage means into a program according to the conversion rules from the conversion rule storage means. , and program storage means for storing the program converted by the program conversion means.